DAYS 74-77 : Marion Island to Traverse City M I- South Manitou Island - Leland/Frankfort - Manistee MI

2021 SEBI TOUR

Marion Island to Traverse City MI: 7.3 mph; 6.6 miles; :56 hours
Traverse City to South Manitou Island: 13.6 mph; 62.9 miles; 4:38 hours
South Manitou Island to FRANKFORT: 16.6 mph; 29.5 miles; 1:47 hours
FRANKFORT to Manistee MI: 11.9 mph; 30.2 miles; 2:32 hours

Traverse City: DNR NAME: DUNCAN L CLINCH MARINA 
$61/night; electric, water, showers/bathrooms, coin-operated laundry, covered picnic area with gas grills. Very clean facility. Quick walk into town.

Sara flew in from DC to boat with us for a while. If you are planning to have anyone visit you in Michigan, this is the spot to fly into. It is pretty much central from Cheboygan to Grand Haven. I can't tell you how good it felt to see her beautiful face walk onto the dock. Thought I would hug her forever. We walked to town, window shopped, had lunch at the local brewery, and fun on the little sugar beach.

South Manitou Island: ANCHORAGE
The next morning we headed to Manitou - a good spirit of reverence. Manitou is made up of two little islands across from Sleeping Bear. 

The story goes like this: A mother bear and her two cubs were forced into Lake Michigan by the wildfires in Wisconsin. The mother and cubs stayed together swimming across the lake; suddenly, a terrible storm brewed around them and separated the mother from her cubs. When mother bear made it to the Michigan shore, she crawled up a tall hill to look out for her cubs. She waited, she wouldn’t forage for food, she stayed in one spot looking for the cubs that would never show. She waited so long that she fell asleep, never woke, and nature covered her with a blanket of sand. The local American Indians believe the North and South Manitou Islands are the cubs that never reached land.

OVERNIGHT ANCHORAGE THAT WASN’T: To anchor here, we needed to see the island ranger for a mail-in $25/parking fee (she didn’t have a box to check for an anchorage). The island itself is a nice stop with a sandy bottom for good holding. The beach is a little rocky and there isn’t much to find here. I think a good beach haul would come from the West and Northwest side of the island because there are 50 shipwrecks around this island holding onto little gems; so, the odds for finding treasures are good.

As always, we watched the weather and wind apps; all was going as planned and everything would have been fine until the winds slowly shifted and our planned anchorage turned into a washing machine. LegaSea was bobbing like a cork! We made a last minute decision to leave the island, bypass Leeland, and head for safe anchorage in Frankfort - great choice. FreeSpirit was there and it was good to see them. 

Frankfort: ANCHORAGE
Boating into Frankfort will always be a challenge between the wind, churning waters, and other boaters speeding past. Once inside the breakwaters we had a calm overnight anchorage and took the dinghy over to the fuel dock to see the town - all kinda new to Sara.

I have to tell you, there were are a lot of fishermen - I mean a LOT! If it floated and could hold an engine, it was on the water with 15 plus fishing rods; looked like swimming porcupines. It’s early September and the Michigan King Salmon are running so anyone strong enough to hold a rod is fishing.

I first heard of the salmon in Alpena. Our waitress showed us a picture of the salmon her boyfriend had caught; a good 25 pound rascal. She was so proud of him and explained how the family would start canning the salmon for winter; it was a priceless conversation. 

I first met people fishing for 'the king' on the banks by the dam in Petoskey but with this degree of enthusiasm. There is so much energy here. On the opposite bank of our anchorage, people have set up shanty-like-dwellings connected to tailgates ensuring food, shelter, and non-stop fishing for the upcoming few days. A Michigan King Salmon can grow to 58 inches and weigh as much as 126 pounds - are you kidding?! I completely understand the tailgating and why there were 5 huge men fishing in a bass boat with ten rods. This fish is a monster and will feed a family through most of winter. A license to fish for this big boy is $76/person. The fish could bring in some money to the fisheries as well; Michigan King Salmon sells for $30-70/pound.

The weather will be tricky for the next two weeks; Free Spirit left the next morning only to return to the marina for a few more days. Their marina was outrageously priced calling itself a resort spa. Come on! A pool and window deli does not a spa make; $3.25/ft - are they hallucinating? Seriously, is there also a mushroom season in Michigan I don’t know about? Anyways, the wind was howling and waves were outside her comfort level. We took note and saw a weather window later in the day. We left Frankfort around 3pm for Manistee.

Manistee 
$52/night; electric, water, showers/bathrooms, coin-operated laundry. Fantastic little town with grocery, post office, shopping, and an old theater showing old and older movies. 

When we arrived, the marina had closed so we hooked to the wall. Nice and calm in the canal. Sara is still trooping along and seems to be having fun exploring the towns. She has fallen for the beauty of Michigan.

We needed to stay here a few extra days because Lake Michigan was being so uncooperative. We spent our time in town, reading, painting, seeing the farmers market and more. Mostly, I have Sara with me and I love being with her. She has become a strong and beautiful woman. 

Sara eventually left us for DC; she was a great Looper! We were sad to see her go. I wasn't expecting such a strong reaction to separating from her; I just didn’t know it would be this hard to be away from Pearson and Sara. I understand they are adults - perfectly capable of handling problems and taking care of themselves. But still, I like them, they are fun and we laugh together. Jim offered to send me home for a week to see them but I decided to stay on the boat. What if I didn’t fly back?! Then what - ha! Jim took me to the old movie theatre to see RESPECT; he knows me so well - I love Motown.